The first Tribal Council was delightful, and not just for Coby's cute shawl-shirt. A tie vote (Ian & Jenn) shocked Ian, who brought it on himself by admitting before the ballots that Tom was in jeopardy. Tom, of course, had promised to have Ian's back until it was time for the gloves to drop, and that was at the Final Three.

Poor Ian. Forced into a tie-breaker against Jenn, he built the fire and earned the right to stay and be eaten alive by Katie and Tom, who were ready to chop his head off. They apparently had forgotten what Ian knew all along: This is a game for a million dollars, and only one person can win it.

It was easy, of course, for Tom to agree to honor his alliance, because the guy was only in jeopardy if he lost a challenge, and he refused. Few can argue that Tom, a 41-year-old firefighter from New York City, is the most dominating player to hit any camera-infested shores: His tribe, Koror, won every single Immunity Challenge (the lost a few Rewards — but in Tom's world, that's all icing, and he was there for the cake). He and Ian passed Immunity back and forth when the challenges got personal.

The final Immunity Challenge was, as tradition dictates, all about endurance. Katie, not breaking her streak, was again completely worthless — the flipside of Tom — just there to hold a space. Ian, feeling bad about losing Tom's respect earlier, made the Survivor King promise to take his best girl Katie to the Final Two, offering to take himself out. Tom, no dummy, said OK, and did just that.

In the long run, nobody really cares that Katie Gallagher, a 29-year-old ad executive from California, made the Final Two, but it must be said that she represented everything bad about reality television — and that's saying a lot.

She was obliterated by the jury — lazy, pathetic, worthless and cruel are but some of the words used to describe her — but Tom took his hits as well. As hurt as jury members were and however they remember events, the edit we were given backs up Tom's claim of playing the game with as much integrity and honesty as possible. In the end, it was 6-1 against Katie, big surprise.

All in all, Survivor: Palau had some pretty high highs and really low lows, but the final half hour was what we love about this show. All hail Tom, not to mention his million.

New York City Fire Lieutenant Tom Westman of Ladder Company 108 in Brooklyn was cheered on by fellow firefighters as the final votes were counted for his "Survivor: Palau" victory. (Photo: CBS)

Tune in Monday morning to the CBS Early Show for a live appearance by Tom Weston, who'll be picking up his million dollar check and talking about the "Survivor: Palau" experience.

Survival and teamwork are after all both a life and death matter and everyday stuff for New York City firefighter Tom Westman, who has just won "Survivor: Palau."

Westman learned he'd won a million dollars in the live finale of CBS' "Survivor: Palau" Sunday night.

Westman, 41, is a second-generation firefighter, following in the footsteps of his dad, and is himself a lieutenant with Ladder Company 108 in Brooklyn. Many of Westman's fellow firefighters were in the audience cheering him on as the "Survivor" votes were counted.

Westman, who will collect his winnings in a live appearance Monday on the CBS Early Show, says he won by simply being himself.

Too soon to say what Westman - who lives on Long Island, N.Y., with his wife and three children - will be doing with the potentially life-changing sum of money.

In addition to being an athlete who enjoys sailing, skiing, golfing and scuba diving, Westman works with disabled veterans to teach them adaptive skiing. He's also working on a Bachelor of Arts degree at Queens College. Like many firefighters, Weston also enjoys cooking but says he most enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Westman's competition in the final vote count was radio ad saleswoman Katie Gallagher from Merced, California. She gets $100,000 as the runner-up.

TOM WESTMAN IS SOLE SURVIVORThirty-nine days, twenty Survivors, two tribes, dozens of lies, a laid-down torch, an incredible winning streak and finally, one Sole Survivor. Tom Westman, the 41-year-old NYC firefighter from Sayville, New York, dominated the Challenges and proved a major force around camp to secure the Jury vote that named him Sole Survivor and winner of the $1 million prize. Shamelessly displaying his strength from the beginning, Tom neither hid who he was nor deceived any of his tribemates on his way to becoming Sole Survivor.

FINAL FOURAs morning 38 dawned, the remaining Koror tribe members took stock of their situation as the Final Four. After enjoying a gift basket of champagne, eggs and oranges, Katie Gallagher, the 29-year-old advertising executive from Merced, California, Ian Rosenberger, the 23-year-old dolphin trainer from Key Largo, Florida and Jennifer Lyon, the 32-year-old nanny from Encino, California, agreed that if alpha-castaway Tom didn't win the next Immunity Challenge, he would be the one to go home. "I win the Challenge; Tom goes home. I don't win the Challenge; Tom's all of a sudden my best friend again," confessed Ian. IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: TOWER OF DOMINATIONAs the Final Four converged for an Immunity Challenge, they were greeted by a Chevrolet SSR, equipped with a check for one million dollars in the glove compartment. The winner of SURVIVOR: PALAU gets both. Host Jeff Probst explained that this Challenge required speed and agility: the Survivors must race along a tire crawl, then navigate through a series of vertical escape hatches to reach the top of a three-story tower. Once at the top of the tower, the Survivors must use grappling hooks to retrieve keys that unlock a hatch covering a flag, which they must raise. The first two players to finish would race down a flying fox into the ocean and retrieve a combination lock box containing another flag. After figuring out the box's combination, the Survivors must retrieve the flag and raise it. The first to raise this final flag wins Immunity.TOM TRIUMPHSThe Challenge started with a flurry as the Final Four hurried into the field of tires. Tom took the early lead with Katie falling behind. It was a close competition as the castaways unlocked the various hatches and climbed up the tower. With Tom clearly ahead, Jennifer had difficulty using her grappling hook, yielding second place to Ian. Once again, the Challenge came down to Ian and Tom.

In the final stage, both Ian and Tom quickly descended the flying fox and splashed into the water. After both had collected their lock boxes and returned to shore, it was down to who could figure out the combination and free their flag first. A delighted Tom finally snapped open his padlock and raised his flag, seizing this crucial Immunity.

DIFFICULT DECISIONSAfter winning the Immunity Challenge, Tom regretfully explained to Jennifer that he intended to honor his alliance with Ian and vote her off. As it was clear that Ian and Katie would follow suit, Jennifer tearfully understood. After Ian revealed that Tom's decision would've been a hard one for him to make, Tom was suddenly alarmed that Ian had planned to betray him. After Jennifer confirmed that to be true, Tom held Ian up to the fire. All Tom could say was, "Makes me think." TRIBAL COUNCIL TIE: JENNIFER LOSESAfter thinking, Tom just couldn't let Ian's possible betrayal go, and he wrote down the name of his closest friend and competitor within Koror. As the Tribal Council ended in a tie between Jennifer and Ian, Jeff Probst announced that a fire-starting Challenge would determine who would stay and who would go. Both Survivors worked diligently to build a fire.

Jennifer could only watch as Ian's fire burned the rope, which raised his flag to secure him one more crucial day on Palau. Jennifer became the fifteenth castaway out of SURVIVOR: PALAU and will serve on the Jury that will soon decide who is named Sole SurvivorBAD NIGHT AT CAMPReturning to camp from the emotional Tribal Council, the three remaining Survivors had it out. Both Tom and Katie assaulted Ian for what they saw as his lack of honesty. Always-likeable Ian had trouble accepting his tribemates' anger. "No matter what I say, I'm the bad guy tonight," the exasperated Ian exclaimed. "We're playing a game!"

HERE'S TO OUR FALLENAfter an early-morning visit from Jeff Probst, the three remaining Koror members were instructed to paddle through the Palauan waters and pay their respects to their fallen comrades. Paddling along, the Survivors dropped each fallen castaway's torch into the sea, then reminisced about the 38 days they had spent in Palau. FINAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: BOB-BOB-BUOYAs the remaining three gathered for what would be their final Immunity Challenge, Jeff Probst explained that this was a test of endurance. The Survivors must each grab onto a navigational buoy and hang on while the buoy swayed from side to side. The last player left hanging on would win Final Immunity. After four-plus hours on the buoys, Katie lost her will and stepped off, leaving Tom and Ian to battle it out one last time. Battle it out they did, as hour after hour came and went. This test of endurance proved to be a marathon as both Koror stalwarts stood strong on their buoys deep into the night.

IAN TAKES A DIVEShortly before the twelfth hour, Ian shocked Tom by offering him a strange deal. In a suicidal move, Ian claimed that he would step down if Tom promised to take Katie to the Final Two. Ian wanted to regain Tom and Katie's respect and was willing to forfeit his chance at one million dollars to do so. When Tom agreed, Ian stepped down, giving up his chance at one million dollars to regain the friendship and respect of his remaining tribemates. Ian became the sixteenth castaway out of Survivor: Palau and will serve on the Jury that ultimately decides who will hold the honor of Sole Survivor. Katie and Tom became Survivor: Palau's Final Two.

SAVE IT FOR THE JURYAfter 39 days and nights on Palau, Tom and Katie prepared to meet the Jury. They must each make their case for why they should be the Sole Survivor, thus deserving the million-dollar prize. "It's been tough here, but it's been the experience of the lifetime, and we're going to take this place apart with a little lump in our throat," Tom said. FINAL TRIBAL COUNCIL: THE JURY DELIBERATES As the Final Two sat down at Tribal Council, the Jury assembled to ask questions that would help them decide who would win the million dollars. As the questions rolled in and the answers rolled out, Tom defended his alliances as well as his integrity and asked to be judged on who he inherently was. Katie explained that her strategy was one of preservation as opposed to work ethic or proficiency at Challenges.

In the end, Tom and Katie delivered one last statement about why they deserved to win. After deliberating, the Jury awarded Tom Westman the title Sole Survivor of Palau.

i read the part about ian's move being suicidal. man, he's getting a lot of greif for that move. i don't see why everyone is giving him such a hard time - it was so sweet and makes me love him even more }bH{

Yeah, I think that he made the right choice. (| I dont see why everyone is giving him a hard time either. I mean it WAS HIS choice, |#' and he chose friendship (/( over money , I think that what he did was the right thing to do! :]

lol

Kristen

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it's like stealing potato chips from a fat guy - you can do it, but you have to do it fast or else he'll sit on you

wheww!! i finally found someone who agrees with me. at this other website, they keep on saying what a loser he is and i want to just SCREAM 'cuz this one person was all, "well, integrity does not = winning" bleh. i would donate $$ to million 4 ian 'cuz i {| him, but i can't :':')

lol, his family lives in Pittsburgh PA, which is cool, because that is only like 2 1/2 hours away from where I live!! lol that is where I saw him, that one time, I was pretty close to Penn State University,and Pittsburgh. lol (| (|

Kristen (|

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it's like stealing potato chips from a fat guy - you can do it, but you have to do it fast or else he'll sit on you

arizona, and they're not kidding when they say it's hot out . . }} lol where are you in the U.S.? btw, it is the FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Jersey, lol it gets pretty hot here too, but not as hot as Arizona!! {**}

Kristen |#'

BTW: I always get really excited on the fourth of July, not just because it is a holiday, but because when it is the fourth of the 4th of july there are only 16 days 'till my birthday!! lol {**} (| *%# {| :] </]

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it's like stealing potato chips from a fat guy - you can do it, but you have to do it fast or else he'll sit on you

thanks!! oh, well i willl give you a birthday greeting in April then. lol. YEAH!! I cant wait to read the next Harry Potter Book!!!! (| Today there are only 10 days 'till it comes out!!!!! i am so excited.

Kristen (| :]

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it's like stealing potato chips from a fat guy - you can do it, but you have to do it fast or else he'll sit on you